Invest AD eyes Turkish acquisitions

Invest AD, an Abu Dhabi government-owned money manager, said it aims to acquire Turkish companies this year in areas such as drug making, food and household goods, and manufacturing. An investment "probably will come within the next three or four months," Samir Assaad, head of the company's private equity team, said in an interview yesterday in Seoul, where he is attending a forum. "Top sectors we are targeting are pharmaceuticals, food and consumer goods, and industrial manufacturing." Invest AD agreed to form a $100 million fund with Japanese financial services provider SBI Holdings Inc to invest in unlisted Turkish companies, according to a statement released last week. The unit of the Abu Dhabi Investment Council made its first private-equity investment in Turkey in late 2009, buying a stake in supply-chain manager EKOL Logistics. As well as SBI Holdings, Invest AD's business partners include German private bank BHF-Bank AG, Korea Development Bank and Hong Kong-listed financial services company Quam Ltd, according to Abu Dhabi Investment. Sodic share rating cut Six of October Development & Investment Co (Sodic), Egypt's second-biggest publicly traded real-estate developer, was cut to "add" from "buy" by Beltone Fin-ancial because of a decline in sales and deliveries. The share price estimate was set at 76 Egyptian pounds, the Cairo-based investment bank said in a research note yesterday. Qatar Telecom Qatar's telecommunications regulator ruled that Qatar Telecom QSC didn't engage in anti-competitive practices on pricing international calls. The Regulatory Authority of the Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology rejected a claim from Vodafone Qatar QSC against Qatar Telecom, the regulator said in a statement on its website yesterday. Bahrain bank ratings The National Bank of Bahrain, BMI Bank BSC and BBK, three Bahraini banks, had their credit ratings cut at Moody's Investors Service with a negative outlook. BMI Bank's rating was lowered to Ba1 from Baa3, National Bank of Bahrain to Baa1 from A3 and BBK was cut to Baa2 from A3, the rating agency said in an e-mailed statement yesterday. "These rating actions follow Moody's decision on May 26 to downgrade by one notch Bahrain's government bond rating to Baa1 and assign a negative outlook," Moody's said. Orascom Orascom Construction Industries, Egypt's biggest publicly traded property builder, had its price estimate raised 6 per cent at Credit Suisse Group AG, which cited a recent fertiliser acquisition and strong nitrogen fertiliser prices. The shares price estimate was raised to 307.1 Egyptian pounds. Kuwait Airlines Shareholders in Kuwait National Airlines Co voted to postpone a decision on raising the company's capital to 65 million dinars, pending an agreement with Kuwait's Aviation Lease & Finance Co on its demands. The decision was taken at an annual general meeting yesterday at the company's headquarters at Kuwait International Airport. Aviation Lease is asking Wataniya Airways to pay back $70 million for the remaining period of an aircraft leasing deal. Kuwait National Airlines owns Wataniya Airways, the Kuwaiti carrier that ceased operations in March. Kingdom Holding Saudi billionaire Prince Al Waleed Bin Talal and Google Inc Chairman Eric Schmidt discussed "potential business cooperation" between Kingdom Holding Co and the US company, according to a Kingdom statement. Saudi Petrochemical Saudi National Petrochemical Co said a study for the proposed merger with Saudi Industrial Investment Group is postponed "until the Saudi Polymers Company has reached a stable level of production," according to a statement to the Saudi bourse. "This postponement will help provide a better valuation of the companies involved, as it will rely on actual figures," it said.